


Regnum Defende

by gryffindortrash



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Modern AU, and royalty, spy!merlin, with magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 01:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7201340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gryffindortrash/pseuds/gryffindortrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin Emrys is many things. Maths prodigy, somewhat chaotic magic user, rising star of the intelligence service. What he isn't is a business management graduate from Bristol with a knack for putting up with unreasonable princes. Until now apparently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is very much a wip that will most likely be edited further at some point in the future so any and all critiques are appreciated.

In 1909 the government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, sensing the ever growing presence of war, felt it necessary to establish the Secret Service Bureau to defend against the shadowed danger of German spies. In order to focus on both internal counter-espionage and foreign target espionage the Bureau evolved and split into two sections which became known as MI-5 and MI-6 respectively. 

During the second world war, as a result of that business with the enigma code, these two organisations were joined by the beginnings of what is now known as GCHQ (Government Communication Headquarters). Together they formed the United Kingdom’s Intelligence Services and for over 50 years remained the nation’s worst kept secret.

Since 1989 the remit of MI-5 has been “the protection of national security and in particular its protection against threats such as terrorism, espionage and sabotage, the activities of agents of foreign powers, and from actions intended to overthrow or undermine parliamentary democracy by political, industrial or violent means.” There are, obviously, other means by which one could attempt to overthrow democracy. Means that, upon the intelligence services going public, stepped up to take their place as Britain’s new worst kept secret.

Despite what many other countries may want to believe the security service is actually rather good at their job, generally speaking if they don’t want something to appear in the media then suddenly everyone’s a lot more interested in the scandalous pictures recently discovered by unknown means on a senior civil servant’s phone. However, in 1990 when strange occurrences begin across the country there’s only so much that can be explained away by weather patterns blowing in from the north and ‘routine exercises’ before the whole country knows the unspoken truth (because really, who believed that snow in August was due to global warming). Magic is real, and it’s throwing a hissy fit.

These oddities lasted for 5 months sending every division of the government into overdrive in an attempt to provide plausible explanations whilst limiting the chaos until they came to a head on the 1st January 1991 at 11:59am when great thunderous crashes and the darkening of the midday sky had people up and down the country pulling out their best impressions of Chicken Little. When these effects all vanished a minute later they seemed to take all other public traces of magic with them and it appeared to all the world that the UK had started to return to normal. 

Despite the lingering worry about whether the stock market would recover (it really doesn’t do wonders for trading when brokers begin yelling about the end of the world in the middle of a deal) everyone could finally go back to their lives but as any intelligence officer worth their salt will tell you, the only thing normality means is that they’re doing their job. In this case however the cessation of activities was not as a result of anything the service had done so it was all hands on deck to figure out what had really happened. After 6 months it was concluded that all of these events had been as a result of the build up to and birth of a child and so 21 years later, they hired him.


	2. Chapter 1

9:00, 15th July 2015  
London, England

_“BBC News at nine o’clock. The recent agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear capabilities has been- “_

“Shit!” Merlin Emrys sat bolt upright in bed as the currently not-so-soothing tones of Moira Stewart let him know that he was going to be very late. He scrambled to get up but only managed to get his legs tangled in the blankets and land face first on the floor with a grunt, his feet still in bed. He was sure he could hear Moira laughing.

Merlin staggered to his feet giving the side of his face a good rub and hoping to all that was good in the world that it wouldn’t leave a mark even though he was sure the wooden floor was smirking triumphantly at him. He stretched the sleep from his joints before remembering the chain of events that had lead to him lying on the floor and bursting back into action. His eyes flashed gold just as he finally managed to get his second sock on after a few frantic hops around the room and the coffee machine in the kitchen obediently clicked on. He grabbed the first pair of trousers that he saw in his wardrobe but it was only as he was attempting to button his shirt for the third time – the tie trying to securing itself around his neck was playing havoc with his coordination – that he realised the matching jacket was still at the dry cleaners after the unfortunate incident at the U.S. embassy last week. 

Having finally managed to dress himself Merlin raced around the rest of his flat gathering his things and nearly performing another spot-check on gravity when he tripped over the cat. He grabbed his now-full coffee flask, picked up his bag from the sofa and, not pausing to actually put on the coat that was slung over his other arm, hurled himself out the door subconsciously noting that he could still hear Moira laughing with Chris Evans on the radio. “Bloody harpy” he thought, deciding that this was almost definitely her fault in some way.

It was at times like these that Merlin was glad that he’d decided to fork out a little bit more on rent to live close to Thames House. He was pretty sure his boss’ eyebrow would actually leave his forehead if Merlin’s punctuality also relied on the tube. It was this oddly amusing image that nearly made him miss his phone ringing.

“Hello?” He answered, trying not to drop everything he was currently juggling whilst racing through the streets of London.

“Alright mate, how’s it goin’?” a slightly familiar but ultimately unrecognisable voice said.

“Sorry, who is this?” Merlin frowned

“Will o’ course! Bloody hell those snobby bastards really did a number on you if you don’t recognise your best mate’s voice” Will laughed

“I imagine it has more to do with the fact that I haven’t heard from you in nearly six years, how did you get this number by the way?” 

“Your mum obviously.”

“My mother. Of course,” Merlin sighed.

“Yeah listen mate, I need a favour -”

“Will –”

“So you know how you’re basically Prime Minister now right?”

“I’m a civil servant, a junior one at that” Merlin replied, technically not lying.

“Whatever, anyway I’m in a bit of trouble –”

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” Merlin muttered to himself.

“See there was this misunderstandin’ between myself and Robbie Drayton’s lot and –”

“Robbie Drayton? As in the-sergeant’s-son Robbie Drayton?”

“Yeah you remember the one, big bloke, small brain. Anyway you know how I’ve always had this theory that he’s gay, right?”

“Let me guess, you-”

“-told him? Yeah course I did! You know me Merl, always trying to do my bit for the cause. Thing is, he didn’t quite see it that way,” 

“No I bet he didn’t,” Merlin hurried up the front steps to Thames House.

“Yeah well one thing lead to another and, well, you know how I feel about the word faggot and now his old man’s tryna press charges,” Will continued as though he hadn’t heard him.

“So do some more community service, what are you calling me for?” Merlin said, digging his security pass out of his pocket.

“Well normally I would but he’s really rampin’ up the pressure this time Merl and I think he wants me to do time but my Dad would go nuts if I got sent down so I thought you could maybe pull some strings for me? Whadda you say?” 

“Will, even if I wanted to help you I don’t have that sort of power,” Merlin finally found the offending card in the last pocket he checked and made his way towards the barriers.

“Ah come on, there must be somethin’ you can do,” 

“Even if there was why the hell would I help you?”

“Because I’m your best mate of course!” Will chirped just as Merlin swiped his card and tried to push through the barriers. Of course, in keeping with the day he’d been having so far, the barriers didn’t move an inch and the resulting jolt made him spill hot coffee over his hand.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Merlin shouted as security guards descended on him, “Look Will I don’t know what world you’re living in but you’re not exactly best mate material anymore given that the last thing you said to me six bloody years ago was that you wouldn’t be seen dead with some posh twat that would probably rather stick his dick in a calculator than a mouth!” 

“Sir, can you hang up the phone and come over to the desk please,” one of the guards said as the other one tried to hold back a snicker, Merlin nodded and tried to smile apologetically.

“Anyway that part aside I can completely understand why Drayton would be pissed off given that I know how it feels to be outed to a parent by you,” Merlin continued, walking over to the security desk and handing his pass to the guard sitting there, “maybe some time in the cells would do you good. Give you time to learn to be a half-decent person, although God knows they’d have to give you a life sentence if they ever actually wanted to teach you anything because it’d take them 20 years to get anything past that thick skull of yours. Now I’m going to go because I have more important things to deal with than you right now, I’d appreciate it if you deleted this number.”

“You always were a stuck up little bitch Emrys,” Will spat before the line went dead.

Merlin resisted the urge to throw his phone across the lobby in frustration and instead turned his attention to the guard currently inspecting his pass with suspicion. 

“What is your business in Thames House today?” the guard said, finally looking up.

“I work here. My name is Merlin Emrys, I’m from Section-D. Look it says on the card,” Merlin pointed at it only to have his hand swatted away.

“Yes, I can read, as can our barriers. At least, they can read official passes which means that this one must be a fake so I’ll ask again. What is your business in Thames House?”

“Oh for goodness sake, you know as well as I that those new barriers have been faulty all week. Just ring up to Section-D and get them to confirm will you?” After a brief but intense staring contest the guard reached over to the phone and dialled through, giving Merlin significant side-eye as he did so.

“Yeah sorry to bother you Lance but I’ve got a Merlin Emrys down here claiming he works for you,” the guard may have sounded polite but every syllable said that he fully believed that Merlin was here to blow up the building, “oh right... I see… Uh huh, ok see you in a minute.” He put down the phone and looked at Merlin who raised his eyebrows expectantly, “He’ll be down to pick you up in a minute,” the guard mumbled handing the pass back.

Merlin nodded smugly and then took a seat on one of the chairs in the lobby to wait for Lancelot. Because that was his name, Lancelot.

“Who calls him Lance anyway?” Merlin thought, shooting the guard a dirty look whilst taking a sip of his coffee as the man in question appeared from the lift on the other side of the barriers.

“Well don’t you look bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning,” Lancelot chuckled as he let Merlin through.

“Don’t even start,” Merlin grumbled.

“Gaius isn’t happy.”

“That makes two of us.”

“You do know it’s half nine, right?”

“Of course I do, I’m very observant,” Merlin shot Lancelot a cheeky grin who just looked at him sceptically, “Spy, remember?” he said pointing to himself.

“Sometimes I fear for this country,” Lancelot shook his head as the lift opened on the grid.

The first thing Merlin noticed, as he dumped his stuff at his desk and flopped into his chair, was that there was a briefing pack sized folder waiting for him. This in itself was not unusual (this place churned out so many briefs Merlin had a sneaking suspicion the the contingency plan for if the whole intelligence thing fell through was to transform His Majesty’s Secret Service into an underwear factory) however normally briefing packs didn’t come with a calculator and a wrapped condom on top. Snickering caused him to look up to see the two other junior intelligence officers in Section-D staring at him, one of them waggled their eyebrows when he made eye contact.

“Morning,” Gwaine drawled with a suggestive grin.

“I’m starting to see Lancelot’s point,” Merlin muttered.

“What was that?” asked Freya.

“I said your prank game is on point,” Merlin said a little louder.

“So who was the domestic with Emrys? Got a new boy toy?” Gwaine asked spinning in his chair. Merlin didn’t answer him choosing instead to throw the condom at him. Gwaine ducked and it went flying over his head, landing at the feet of their Head of Section, Gaius.

“Ah, sorry?” Merlin said

“Nice of you to join us,” Gaius replied, giving him the eyebrow, “briefing room everyone, now.”

Once everyone minus Kilgharrah the technical advisor - he didn’t emerge from his computing cave except to hand out new gadgets accompanied by suitably vague instructions and prophecies of doom, nobody minded though because he tended to creep most of the team out a little – was assembled Gaius began.

“Now as you all know yesterday was the Prince of Wales’ birthday and he celebrated in the usual fashion.” Gaius began.

“Making The Savoy his own personal nightclub,” Freya clarified.

“What happened to The Ritz?” Merlin asked.

“They were mysteriously all booked up.”

“Shocker.”

“We kept an eye on proceedings as per and this morning Alice has been sifting through the recordings,” Gaius finished and gestured to the team’s senior intelligence analyst.

“Yes, I was going through the tapes and there was nothing out of the ordinary until I came across this,” Alice said as she pressed a button on the remote in front of her.

 _“I just think it’s an invasion of privacy, you know?”_ a voice drifted out from the speakers around the room, _“Our grandparents fought so hard for the freedom of this country the least that the government can do is allow their descendants to live in peace without spooks poking into every nook and cranny of their lives. I mean why do we even need an intelligence service? It’s impossible to keep anything a secret in this day and age anyway, they’re an outdated farce that we only keep around in an attempt to impress the Americans.”_

“Was that?” Merlin asked.

“The Prince,” Gaius confirmed solemnly.

“Oh dear.”

“Quite.”

“This of course comes after the news that last week Arthur insisted that the security detail that the service provide for him be reassigned in favour of hiring a private firm,” Lancelot added.

“So just to confirm,” Merlin said, leaning forward, “The heir to the throne of the United Kingdom is currently being guarded by little more than a hired protein shake?”

“Well they were put through the same developed vetting procedures that we use but, yeah, basically. For obvious reasons we’re trying to keep that part quiet, it wouldn’t do for those with harmful intents towards the prince to discover he’s no longer under MI-5 protection.”

“Blimey,” Freya whispered.

“So come on then Lancelot, you’re always the man with a plan. How are we making an umbrella to weather this particular shit storm?” Gwaine asked.

“Merlin,” Lancelot turned to him, “How are your management skills?”

“I got an A in Business at GCSE?” Merlin provided.

“Great. Now you’ve got a degree in it from Bristol.” He nodded to the briefing pack in front of Merlin who began to flick through it.

“Oh good my favourite, a legend,” Merlin muttered.

“Right, I’ll leave you to it,” Gaius said and left the room followed by Alice.

“So what I’m getting is that you want me to go undercover,” Merlin said.

“Nothing gets by you Merlin,” Lancelot joked.

“To get close to the Prince of Wales?” 

“We need someone to keep him in line and out of trouble, it won’t do to have such influential members of the royal family talking about the service like that. People might get ideas.”

“If he won’t let us place anyone with him then how am I meant to get close to him?”

“Well lucky for us Arthur is near impossible to work with-”

“Lucky?” Merlin echoed.

“Which means that he’s looking for a new PA, I think his last one lasted about 2 weeks.” Lancelot continued, “However you are right, we can’t just force anyone on him. So you’re going to have to get the job on your own merit I’m afraid.”

“And just how am I meant to do that?” Merlin asked.

“I’m sure your charm Merlin you’ll breeze through it. Your interview’s tomorrow at 1:00.” Lancelot said before leaving the room.

“Look on the bright side mate,” Gwaine said, “your legend’s about as close to your real self as possible.”

“Yeah,” added Freya, “less chance of a repeat performance of your slip up with the Ukrainian ambassador this time.”

“That was not my fault,” Merlin quickly tried to defend himself. It really hadn’t been his fault that time. He’d been attending a dinner at the embassy under the pretence of advising the various diplomats there for trade discussions on his area of expertise. Unfortunately his cover’s area of expertise had been his PhD in industrial agriculture, Merlin on the other hand couldn’t even keep a houseplant alive so had been relying quite heavily on Alice feeding him information to keep the disguise going. At least he had been until the terrorists that had infiltrated the building turned their signal jammer on. Of course half an hour later when they were all being held at gunpoint Merlin’s less-than-green fingers had been the least of his worries.

“Can’t blame terrorists for everything Merlin,” Gwaine chirped.

“90% of the time-“

“What about that mark on your shirt, hmm?” Gwaine countered before Merlin even finished his point, “Terrorists? I think not.”

It was truly a testament to how well his day was going that when Merlin looked down and saw the glob of dried up toothpaste on his shirt he couldn’t even manage a sigh. By this point he honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if it turned out that Colgate was an extension of the KGB and this was their way of planting a listening device on him. “No it wouldn’t be the Russians,” he thought, “it was probably Moira bloody Stewart."


	3. Chapter 2

Despite appearances Merlin did, for the most part, genuinely enjoy his job. He liked the feeling of satisfaction that came with seeing an op through successfully, he was proud of the fact that he was serving his country in a way that not many could and he was a dab hand at recruiting new assets even if he did say so himself. In fact, given the choice he didn’t think there was anywhere he’d rather work, the service gave him a purpose he’d yet to find anywhere else in life and he wasn’t about to give that up for anything. Not to mention that there weren’t exactly many jobs around where he could put his true talents to work.

A side note on the legality of magic as it is understood by Merlin Emrys:  
_Whilst technically there are no laws against magic it is only really legal in the sense that it isn’t illegal. This is entirely due to the fact that officially in the eyes of the public making magic illegal is like making time-travel illegal as the party line on both is that they’re fictional. Of course magic isn’t (Merlin’s not so sure about time-travel but he’s open to the possibility) but under no circumstance are the general populace to know this. The government in their self-titled all knowing capacity however, claim to know all about magic (which Merlin thinks is bollocks really) and aren’t overly fond of it. However, the desire to keep it a secret is far greater than the desire to outright ban it. Upon reaching the highest level of clearance within the UK a person may be informed of the existence of magic if necessary. This includes but is not limited to the PM, the chiefs of the various intelligence agencies and the King. Also Gaius._

Merlin spent the rest of the morning religiously studying his new identity. Merlin Davies graduated from Bristol 2 years ago with a 2:1 in business management and went straight into an internship at a top company in London. From there he made great friends with the CEO’s PA and when she went on maternity leave a few months later she recommended he take her job. With her now comfortable leaving her bouncing baby boy at a nursery he was out of a job again but carrying a very impressive letter of recommendation from his previous boss. Other than that there was very little different from Merlin’s true identity. Same town, same school, even his parents had the same names. Whilst he was relieved that there wasn’t a lot to remember he did wish that Lancelot had a little more faith in his ability to hold a cover than this.

In the afternoon Gaius called him into his office for the chat that Merlin had deemed inevitable from the get-go on this assignment.

“Sit down Merlin” Gaius said gesturing to the seat opposite his desk, “I imagine you know what we need to talk about?”

“Don’t use magic in front of the royal family,” Merlin recited, he was yet to have a legend that included the use of magic and frankly he wasn’t holding his breath, “although in this case I really don’t see the big deal. The top three all know about magic so if I slip up surely it’s less of a concern than normal. Not that I’d go in there shouting about it, you just don’t need to look so worried.”

“Actually it’s a little more serious than that,” Gaius replied, “This is an extract from the king’s meeting with the prime minister last week.”

“I thought we didn’t listen to those?”

“And if anyone asks we still don’t,” Gaius tapped at his computer.

 _“Have you thought anymore about my suggestion?”_ The unmistakable voice of King Uther played

 _“Sir I agree with you, you know I do”_ The PM sounded just as oily when Merlin couldn’t see his face, he’d really been rooting for the other guy _“but as I see it there’s just no way we can introduce the concept of magic to the population and keep order. Especially not in the way you’d like-“_

_“Magic is a plague on this land, we can’t just stand by and allow it to run free!”_

_“I see what you’re saying but we also can’t really bring back capital punishment either,”_ At this Merlin let out an audible gasp, _“the people just wouldn’t have it.”_

_“Damn the people! It’s hardly capital punishment, it’s not as if they’re really human.”_

_“That’s all well and good but without the support of the people I do sort of lose my job…”_

_"Honestly what’s the point in having a Conservative government if we have to tiptoe about on eggshells because of some bleeding heart liberals.”_

Gaius stopped the recording, “he just continues to rant about a few other minority groups after that before discussing the NHS for a bit but you get the gist of it.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way Gaius, but when did the king become such a dick?”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that but let’s just say he has a very good PR team,” Gaius said giving Merlin a warning look, “you see now why I have to warn you. You must be so careful Merlin if the king gets any wind of your abilities I’ve honestly no idea what he’d do but I can’t imagine it would be good.”

“And I suppose the Prince feels the same way?”

“Curiously we’ve never heard the Prince or the Duchess talking openly about magic although they both know of it’s existence,” Gaius said, “but whilst it’s possible that this means they’re more open to it I think it would be safer to assume they both agree with the King on the matter.”

“Wonderful.” Merlin muttered, “Gaius I really don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know the first thing about being a PA and they’ll be loads of other far more suitable people going for the job so what if I don’t get it and even if I do get it what if I don’t last I mean the last guy was only there for two weeks and I don’t exactly make good first impressions and the added chance of the king suddenly trying to murder me really doesn’t make this situation any less stressful if I’m honest I don’t see why you can’t just send Freya or better yet Gwaine I suck at interviews and he’s got more charm in one strand of hair than most people do in their entire bodies especially weird little maths freaks from the back end of beyond I couldn’t even make friends with Mr Nelson’s sheep as a child and it was Wales seriously that thing bit me so hard I bled I’ve still got the scar and-“ Gaius held up his hand and Merlin stopped in his tracks.

“Breathe” He said, “Better?” Merlin nodded. “You’re a very resourceful young man Merlin, I have every confidence in your ability to both get the job and fulfil it. The King is not going to try to murder you because he’s not going to find out about your magic and even if he does, murder is still illegal regardless of title-“

“Executioner.” Merlin butted in.

“Don’t be smart. As for why we’re not sending Freya or Gwaine, the King has banned his son from hiring female assistants after the super injunction a couple of years ago and out of the two of you Gwaine is slightly more likely to make some sort of inappropriate comment that will get him fired.” Merlin raised his eyebrows, “Slightly. Besides, you’ve had a job before this I’m sure you remember some skills for more normal positions?”

“The only job I had before this was three shifts in the corner shop before Mr Maitland fired me because Will stole some Wotsits.”

“Just make a good impression in the interview, do as the Prince says, and I’m sure you’ll be fine. You’re not there to be the best PA the world has ever seen.” Gaius said with an air of finality, “Now go on, don’t you have work to be doing?”

“Not really-“

“Merlin”

“Alright I’m going. Thanks for the warning about King Arsehole, I mean Uther.” Merlin said before returning to his desk.

***  
“Ooh,” Gwaine hissed at the image on Merlin’s screen, “That looks painful.”

“Yeah,” Merlin replied absentmindedly.

“HRH do that?”

“What?” Merlin sat up, “No. Why would you even think that?”

“Well that is who you’re meant to be researching,” Gwaine pulled up a chair and sat next to him, “but you’re right, it’s silly of me to assume you’d be working here of all places.”

“He’s the next King of England he doesn’t exactly live a secretive life, he’s got a Wikipedia page.”

“Still-“

“Still nothing, he’s the Prince of of Wales and I’m Welsh. We can bond over the fact that he basically owns me.”

“So what’s this?” Gwaine nodded at the screen.

“Someone I used to be friends with got arrested, I was just taking a look at the report.”

“That is not the crowd I would’ve pictured you with Emrys.”

“What? No not him, he’s the guy my friend beat up.”

“That does make more sense.”

“Did you really think he was the guy I used to be friends with?”

“Be fair Merlin you did just admit that your old friend’s a criminal.”

“This guy has a racist neck tattoo. With a spelling mistake.”

“Amazing,” Gwaine said softly and sat back in his chair, “So what happened?”

“He was always awful to Will and me when we were younger, the town bully that sort of thing. Anyway, he said some things that Will didn’t agree with and then the next thing you know,” He gestured to the screen.

“Oh dear.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t help that he’s the sergeant’s son.”

“Double oh dear.”

“Yup.”

“Why do you care anyway?” Gwaine asked, “I mean you said you used to be friends with this guy? As in you’re not now?”

“We fell out when I went to uni. He said, well, you heard me on the phone this morning,” Gwaine snickered, “We haven’t spoken in years but growing up he was the only friend I had so I suppose I sort of owe him for that.”

“Merlin that’s ridiculous, you don’t owe anyone for being your friend.”

“I know, I know, I’m a gift. But he stuck up for me when no one else did so I guess it’s more like returning the favour. Besides, my mum would kill me if I didn’t at least try to help, he’s like a second son to her.”

“Well don’t be too hard on yourself mate, they’re some nasty bruises.”

“And that’s just his face.” Merlin muttered.

“It’s not your fault your friend can’t hold his temper.”

“It’s not entirely not my fault though.”

“What?”

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter. Did you need something?”

“Not really, just wanted to see if you fancied the pub tonight? Couple of drinks as a send off before you go prancing about with aristocracy for the foreseeable future? You can even invite the creepy gadget guy if you want, I know you’re fond of him.”

“Yeah alright, sounds good. I’ll see you later.” Merlin turned back to his computer and scrolled down to the list of injuries, shaking his head, “oh Will.”

After another unsuccessful hour with the arrest report and 3 slightly more successful hours researching the Prince, Merlin was gathering his things ready to clock out. “You guys go ahead,” he said to the others, “I’ll meet you there.” Then he headed towards the back of the grid where he was pretty sure Kilgharrah actually lived.

“Kilgharrah?” He called out. Why was it always so dark back here? He couldn’t see a thing. Without warning a monitor turned on and illuminated the man sat in front of it.

“Young warlock,” Kilgharrah greeted.

“Yeah I’ve told you before I’d really rather you didn’t call me that,” Merlin started but Kilgharrah just blinked back at him, “But you don’t care… Anyway, I don’t know if you heard but tomorrow I’m going undercover with Prince Arthur so I’m not going to be around for a while and a few of us are going to the pub so I wondered if you wanted to come?”

“So the prophecy begins.”

“Ok, I don’t know what that means.”

“Two sides of the same coin, together will return Albion to greatness.”

“So, is that a yes to the pub?” Merlin asked but a hand reached out and turned the monitor off, plunging the room back into darkness. “Great. Good talk.” Merlin gave a thumbs up to the dark room and left to join the rest of the team.


End file.
